We led the Review of Social Work Education and our work on the review is continuing.

One of the key recommendations of the review was to establish a partnership approach to encourage and enable the full engagement of employers, educators and other key stakeholders to ensure continued improvement in quality and consistency of social work qualifying programmes.

The Review Group recommended the development of a formal partnership at national level, with formal regional partnerships to support and enable a shared approach to professional learning and to ensure shared ownership, understanding and accountability across key partners.

The Scottish Government has supported the establishment of a Social Work Education Partnership (SWEP) to facilitate this recommendation and we are working alongside partners in this.

What else have we done so far

• Revised the Standards in Social Work Education (SiSWE) and embedded these throughout approved programmes in Scotland.
• Revised additional aspects of the Framework for Social Work Education including the entry requirements for approved programmes.
• Developed new arrangements for Continuous Professional Learning (CPL) for social service workers.

What we are continuing to do

• Finalise work on revisions to the teaching, learning and assessment requirements for the Framework for Social Work Education in partnership with stakeholders.
• Continue to explore graduate level apprenticeships and other work-based routes into social work with the sector.
• Developing a national online resource for NQSW and their employers in Scotland.

The following recommendations from the review require further work to explore implementation and funding implications so Scottish Ministers can consider them fully. We have started work in partnership with social work educators and employers in all these areas.

• Development of a shared approach to social work professional learning.
• Introduction of a mandatory, supported year for newly qualified social workers (NQSW).
• Widening access to social work education.

Find out more

For more information please contact Anne Tavendale at: anne.tavendale@sssc.uk.com

Read more about the background to the Review of Social Work Education, research and reports and our consultation on the Standards in Social Work Education here.